# Lessons from a school-based vaccination response following a Diphtheria outbreak in eThekwini district, SA

## TL;DR

This paper discusses a school-based vaccination response to a diphtheria outbreak in South Africa, showing how it can quickly boost vaccine coverage but may need more community engagement in hesitant areas.

## Contribution

The paper provides new insights into the effectiveness and challenges of using school-based vaccination during diphtheria outbreaks.

## Key findings

- School-based vaccination can rapidly increase vaccine coverage during outbreaks.
- Community engagement is crucial in vaccine-hesitant populations for successful outbreak responses.

## Abstract

Diphtheria is a life-threatening respiratory tract infection that causes outbreaks in susceptible populations. Between April and May 2018, an outbreak of diphtheria occurred in the eThekwini district. A school-based outbreak vaccination response was initiated to target vulnerable children and adolescents.

This study adds to the limited data describing a school-based vaccination in an outbreak response and highlights successes and challenges. School-based outbreak vaccination response can rapidly increase vaccine coverage; however, additional community engagement may be required in vaccine-hesitant populations.